Information systems for interactive learning: Design perspective

This paper aims to present and discuss educational issues and relevant research to universities and colleges in the Arabian Gulf Region. This include cultural, students’ learning preferences and the use of information and communication technology. It particularly focuses on interactive learning through the consideration of learning styles. It explores the sequential-global learning styles profile of undergraduate students as part of a continuous research in Information Systems design with a particular focus on the design of Interactive Learning Systems (ILSs). A study to examine the learning style profile of undergraduate students in a cohort of Management Information Systems at a UAE university has been conducted, and a discussion and recommendations on how these findings can be reflected on the design of ILSs are provided

Internal Audit Function response to ERP Systems Implementation

The internal audit function (IAF) importance has been highlighted by legislative and professional responses to various financial scandals. On the other hand, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have institutional logics in controlling business process that pressure the IAF to change. Based on the institutional theory a conceptual framework is formulated to explore the IAF change as a response to ERP systems implementation, wherein ERP systems are considered as carrier of new institutional logics. Interpretive approach has been adopted by conducting an in-depth case study in a multinational organization in Egypt. Interviews with variety stakeholders were chosen as the primary data collection method besides careful examination of available documents. Data have been analyzed using directed content analysis based on coding the transcribed interviews. The study results are enhancing the understanding of the IAF change and provide additional lessons that could be useful in improving the IAF in organizations that implement ERP systems. Keywords ERP, SAP, Internal Audit, Corporate Governance, Case Study, Interpretive, Egypt, Content Analysis

Cultual Aspects of Multi-Channel Customer Management: A UK Case Study

Channel management is one CRM systems component much influenced by the behaviour of customers in relation to its implementation and use. The consumers’ behaviours, preferences, perceptions and expectations are crucial for the implementation and use of channel management. Customers’ contact with the organization’s multi-channels can occur at several touch points throughout the customer lifecycle. Customers’ behaviours may be differentiated according to the individual or micro level, but it might also differ at an ecological or macro level of analysis (Ramaseshan et al., 2006). In this paper the authors have conducted a case study in the UK to analyze customers’ behaviours at a macro level and customers channel choices, through out the customer lifecycle. The authors have used a Structurational Analysis model (Ali and Brooks, 2008) to identify the cultural factors (Ali, et al. 2008a) that influence multi-channel customer management in the UK

Culture and IS: A Criticism of Predefined Cultural Archetypes Studies

Although there are many different models of national culture, most IS research has tended to rely almost solely on Hofstede’s cultural model (Keil et al., 2000; Straub, 1994; Tan et al., 1995; Watson et al., 1994; Myers and Tan, 2002; Kirkman et al. 2006).). This is perhaps not surprising, given that Hofstede’s typology of culture has been one of the most popular in many different fields of management (Myers and Tan, 2002). Although, this paper focuses on Hofstede’s model of national culture, but many of the criticisms of Hofstede’s model apply equally well to most of the other predefined cultural models. This paper provides a criticism of predefined cultural archetypes and highlight some recommendations for researchers in the filed of culture and IS discipline

Enhanced Image View Synthesis Using Multistage Hybrid Median Filter For Stereo Images

Disparity depth map estimation of stereo matching algorithm is one of the most active research topics in computer vision.In the field of image processing,many existing stereo matching algorithms to obtain disparity depth map are developed and designed with low accuracy.To improve the accuracy of disparity depth map is quite challenging and difficult especially with uncontrolled dynamic environment.The accuracy is affected by many unwanted aspects including random noises,horizontal streaks,low texture,depth map non-edge preserving, occlusion,and depth discontinuities.Thus,this research proposed a new robust method of hybrid stereo matching algorithm with significant accuracy of computation.The thesis will present in detail the development,design, and analysis of performance on Multistage Hybrid Median Filter (MHMF).There are two main parts involved in our developed method which combined in two main stages.Stage 1 consists of the Sum of Absolute Differences (SAD) from Basic Block Matching (BBM) algorithm and the part of Scanline Optimization (SO) from Dynamic Programming (DP) algorithm.While,Stage 2 is the main core of our MHMF as a post-processing step which included segmentation,merging, and hybrid median filtering.The significant feature of the post-processing step is on its ability to handle efficiently the unwanted aspects obtained from the raw disparity depth map on the step of optimization.In order to remove and overcome the challenges unwanted aspects, the proposed MHMF has three stages of filtering process along with the developed approaches in Stage 2 of MHMF algorithm.There are two categories of evaluation performed on the obtained disparity depth map: subjective evaluation and objective evaluation.The objective evaluation involves the evaluation on Middlebury Stereo Vision system and evaluation using traditional methods such as Mean Square Errors (MSE),Peak to Signal Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity Index Metric (SSIM).Based on the results of the standard benchmarking datasets from Middlebury,the proposed algorithm is able to reduce errors of non-occluded and all errors respectively.While,the subjective evaluation is done for datasets captured from MV BLUE FOX camera using human's eyes perception.Based on the results,the proposed MHMF is able to obtain accurate results, specifically 69% and 71% of non-occluded and all errors for disparity depth map, and it outperformed some of the existing methods in the literature such as BBM and DP algorithms

CORE PERSPECTIVES OF PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT IN NPOS: IN SEARCH OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND LEGITIMACY

Purpose: The Main Purpose of this research is to set the scene for Non-Profit Organizations’ performance by synthesizing the vast array of literature on performance measurement frameworks to examine what constitutes performance measurement, and why it is a fundemental issue for the NPO sector. The research also analyses the main issues of performance measurement in NPOs. Methodology: This research takes the form of a literature review. The author draws on extensive research on measuring the performance in NPOs from a diverse range of disciplines to explore definitions, challenges and solutions with performance measurement in NPOs. Value: The categorizations of approaches to measure the performance in NPOs should guide researchers and practitioners. Findings: Non-Profit Organizations need new indicators to assess their economic, social and financial performance, in order to increase the accounting disclosure for social and economic value added resulting from its activities